Lionele Tommasino

Lionele Tommasino (1890-1980) was the boss of the Tommasino clan of the Sicilian Mafia.

Biography
Lionele Tommasino was born in the village of Corleone, Sicily in 1890, and he first became partners with Vito Corleone during Corleone's expansion of the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company. Corleone agreed to distribute Tommasino's olive oil, and Tommasino and Corleone became close allies. In 1922, he decided to assist Corleone with his murder of Francesco Ciccio, as he sought Ciccio's role for himself. During the murder of Ciccio, Tommasino was shot in the back by a lupara shotgun, paralyzing him from the waist down. Despite this, Tommasino became the new don, and he continued to be a strong ally of Don Corleone.

In 1948, when Corleone's son Michael Corleone went into exile following his murders of Virgil Sollozzo and Mark McCluskey, Tommasino was entrusted with Corleone's protection. Tommasino gave Corleone his blessing for his wedding to Apollonia Vitelli, and Tommasino planned to move Corleone and Vitelli to a new villa near Siracusa following the murder of Sonny Corleone back in New York and reports that Corleone's enemies knew that he was in Sicily. However, Apollonia was killed in a car bomb before they could do so. Michael Corleone returned to America when it became safe enough to do so. In 1980, Corleone would return to Sicily to seek the elderly Tommasino's advice about making contacts in the Vatican City in order to aid his takeover of the Italian conglomerate Immobiliare. He informed Corleone about the corruption in the Vatican under Licio Lucchesi, one of Corleone's enemies.

Death
Michael Corleone's enemy, Don Osvaldo Altobello, hired the assassin Mosca of Montelepre to assassinate Corleone during his time in Sicily. Mosca dressed in priest's clothings and walked towards Corleone; the gentle Tommasino had the car stop, and he asked the "priest" if he needed a ride. However, he recognized Mosca, and Mosca, whose cover was blown, drew a lupara shotgun hidden in his robe and shot Tommasino dead in his car.